May 18, 2022 at 1:21 p.m.
Germain wins triple jump, Hodag girls 6th at GNCs
Germain wins triple jump, Hodag girls 6th at GNCs
Emma Germain defended her title in the triple jump and the Hodags had four other all-conference performances in a tightly contested meet.
Mosinee won the meet going away, with 198 1/2 points. Less than 22 points separated third-place Lakeland from last-place Northland Pines.
"I'm very proud of the way we responded," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "They came in tonight and had a few issues. We had a couple of thigh issues and things we are working through."
Germain, a senior, was the top seed in the triple jump after a leap of 33 feet, 1 3/4 inches in the preliminaries rounds. She upped that mark to 33-10 in the finals to beat Mosinee's Kate Fitzgerald by nine inches for the victory.
"Emma, all she wanted to do was win the conference in the triple jump," Kraemer said. "She wanted to make sure she was the one standing on the pedestal at the end and, ultimately, she is. I'm excited for her. Once she truly gets over this now and says, 'I'm the conference champ,' and goes into next week and says, 'I can be here with these girls and deserve to go to sectionals and state,' I think she'll do it."
Germain and fellow senior teammates Megan Brown and Sage Flory could not quite defend their title in the 4x100, or pull off the win in the 4x200. The three teamed with junior Gussie Gruett in the 4x200 and led going into the final exchange, but conference 100-meter champion MacKenzie Wissbroecker of Antigo ran down Flory over the final 200 meters to claim a 0.48-second victory for her squad.
It was a similar story in the 4x100 as Germain, Brown, Flory and freshman Reese Gehrig were in the mix down the stretch, but Wissbroecker turned on the after burners over the final 100 to give Antigo the win and Medford edged out Rhinelander for the runner-up spot.
"Sage has just been battling all year long. She's just trying to get herself back to last year's form and it's been tough for her. But they took second in the 4x2, third in the 4x1 against some of the fastest girls in the conference," Kraemer said. "I can't say enough about Emma Germain. I said this about Rebecca last year and I say this about Megan and Sage a lot, if my daughter turns out like them, I've done good and I'll be very proud. They're just great kids. They're competitors."
Rivers Eagleson tied for second in the pole vault with a personal-best performance of 8 feet, putting her only three inches off of Meghan Kelley's school record set back in 2008. Junior Abby Swanson for Rhinelander's other all-conference performance, finishing third in the shot put (31-8 3/4).
Swanson added a fourth-place finish for Rhinelander in the discus while freshman Callie Hoerchler was fifth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 100 hurdles. Brown was fifth in the 200.
Averie West finished seventh in the 300 hurdles, Gehrig qualified for the finals in the 100, finishing eight. Luna Grage was eighth in the 800. Kyleah Hartman took ninth in the 100 hurdles, after qualifying for the finals in the event.
Rhinelander was fifth with its 4x400 squad of Grage, Gruett, Hartman and Eagleson. The Hodags took sixth in the 4x800 with West, Alyssa Smiths, Maria Hubler and Brynn Teter.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.